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The Eastern Pennsylvania/Delaware Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation will hold its annual Promise Ball on April 27. This year, the event will honor Sue Schick, CEO of UnitedHealthcare of Pennsylvania and Delaware, for her work with the foundation.
A piece of glasswork, titled “Ladder to Light” created by acclaimed artist Andy Paiko, is up for auction during the ball. Paiko recently had a piece of work added to the permanent collection of the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery.
As a tribute to Schick and a nod to Paiko’s donation, 10 children with Type 1 diabetes met at East Falls Glassworks on April 7 to learn how to create a glass sculpture of their own. The children will present their sculpture to Schick at the ball before it is auctioned off alongside Paiko’s piece.
At the glassblowing class, Matthew Cohn, an international board member for the foundation, said glass is representative of the people with diabetes. “Glass is both beautiful and somewhat fragile,” said Cohn. “So I feel like glass symbolizes the somewhat fragile nature of the human body and the struggles that each of these kids and adults go through dealing with diabetes every day.”
Since it was founded in 1970, the JDRF has raised more than $1.7 billion for diabetes research and education. The event will be held at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel and the activities will begin at 5:30 p.m. For more information about the foundation or The Promise Ball, visit https://www.jdrfeasternpa.com/
I think its great to teach the history of this art and others to the youth.